Simply Cichlids
Hi All,
I've just restarted the hobby again after a long time.
Most of the shops selling apistogramma are no longer around while some are not even selling them anymore thus making it harder to get those nice and rare species. Anyone knows which LFS still selling them other than C328 and Y618.
Just to share the setup. A small tank and a nano tank to test it out first. A pair of Ap. agassizii is house with 5 juvenile Nannacara Adoketa while the Nano tank is for Ap. Trifasciata with 1 pair of Balloon Ram.
Last edited by outspoken; 22nd Jul 2019 at 23:13.
Simply Cichlids
Thanks. I did check their facebook page previously and they have not update regarding the official opening of their new shop yet. Maybe soon but still have to wait till the stocks come in and the fishes stabilise first.
I did saw ivanbetta online store have 1 or 2 apistogramma instock like the Black Chin and Inca50 but didn't have the time to go down to their Shop to view.
In addition to C328, Y618, the so-called "common" apistos have been seen at Qianhu, Hongyang, That, Toh, LFS, etc. These also sometimes get wild fish from the major importers, e.g. recently I've seen shipments of wild Peru fish, and also A. iniridae, A. agassizii.
Some shops with a little extra (often fish from Taiwan, but also some wild shipments from Peru, Colombia) are Simply Cichlids (they've had a name change recently I believe, after their move), Fishtopia (Colombia import recently), Shrimps Affair, Glassbox.
Those are the ones I know of, there might be more. Green Chapter stopped stocking dwarf cichlids, they down-sized their livestock section for more scaping and plants stuff it seems. Aquatic Avenue also seems to have stopped bringing in new fish, though they still have some of their old stock. A couple of years ago Iwarna was bringing in some Colombia fish too - they seem to have stopped as well.
Currently active hobbyists I know who might have fish for you are Edwin Tay, Willie, Derek Xie, Arron, Jaron, myself - it's a pretty thin list. There must be more people keeping and breeding the SA dwarfs but I'm not in touch with them.
And yes, I did see allpahuayo (former sp. Schwarzkinn / Black Chin), erythrura (former sp. Rio Mamore), and a few other species at Iven Betta, early this week.
Thanks Bro for the information regarding the LFS. I went down to Shrimps Affair and Glassbox to see their collection. Glad that i asked for information in here or else i wouldn't know where to find those rare species.
I'm quite impressed with Shrimp Affair collection especially the Ap. Inca and Ap. macmasteri. The colouration is very nice. The Ap. Bit Tefe also nice finnage. Glassbox have one of my favourite Ap. mendezi but they do not have any female.
I'm getting tempted to start a few glass tank to get them.
Shrimps Affair does stock nice fish - I believe quite a bit of their stock is from Taiwan. You can give them a wish list of fish you're looking out for, and they can probably bring it in for you if there's stock available at their Taiwan suppliers.
I just passed by Glassbox last night to pick up customized LED lights for my rack - they just stocked up with a female mendezi, so you could get a pair there if you wanted to now.
Be careful about getting too many fish! I am feeling a bit squeezed right now (bought too many killie eggs )!
hi bro Outspoken,
Welcome back. Have I met you before? I have been keeping apistos (on & off) since the days of bro Scope & Cichlid Forever. Now I am ON.....actually, I am more than ON.....I have more tanks than before. As a general rule, I would avoid the apistos in the usual LFS they are usually not that cheap & their upkeep is not that good. Simply Aquatics (formerly Simply Cichlids) is a good source. Shrimp Affairs does entertain requests but their apistos are from Taiwan. Other possibilities include Glassbox, JZX & Qian Hu. Fishtopia, Green Chapter & Aquatic Avenue seem to have 'fallen off the radar'.
Hey Edwin, good to see you here.
@outspoken, Edwin might be a good source for fish - he sometimes has goodies swimming around in his tanks
re: Taiwan-source fish are one of the best sources available to us - they are not perfect of course, but at least the species ID is usually quite accurate. Gender ID is as always fraught with problems, but that's true for any source - apistos just aren't always so straightforward to sex, with all the sneaker males lurking about.
Thanks for the info. I might go down there to have a look once i have more tanks available. Yes i do tend to stock up a lot more than my tanks
can handle. Hope to slow down for now.
After looking at those apistogramma available at LFS, i'm seriously thinking of letting go my current pair of Ap. Agassizii and Ap. Trifasciata.
Hey Bro Edwin. I can't remember myself but should be. I may have got 1 or 2 pairs from you last time when i was on/off. But for Bro scope i still remember i keep buying the apistogramma from him as he keep getting from overseas. That's good to hear that your collection is getting more....maybe i can get some from you when the tanks are ready.
I just went to Qian Hu just now to have a look on their collection. Price wise is the cheapest around but Quality is just so-so and they are mixed together so for me personally it's not worth it. Lucky i still manage to grab some african cichlid or else it's a wasted long trip.
Hi,
reviving this old thread. Can anyone share the updated places to catch some apistos? I’ve seen a couple of pairs from C328, Simply Aquatics and Qian Hu (community tanks). I think LFS is still bringing in but there isn’t any available right now.
Would like to hear updates for Glassbox, JZX or others before I make the trip.
thanks.
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